Australia has introduced tougher measures for migration advisers, including stronger standards, ethics requirements and increased enforcement powers aimed at improving integrity in the sector.
Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill says the changes are part of a broader crackdown to “weed out unethical” operators and ensure visa applicants receive high-quality immigration assistance.
Public disciplinary notices show that in April alone, five registered migration agents were cautioned, suspended or had their registrations cancelled, including three agents of Indian background.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) has cancelled the registration of Melbourne-based migration agent Jujhar Bajwa, who is known to many in the Punjabi-speaking community.
According to OMARA’s published summary, Bajwa’s registration was cancelled on 23 April 2026; he cannot re-register for five years under the Migration Act.
The regulator said it reviewed visa applications linked to Bajwa and identified concerns, including failure to declare immigration assistance, misleading statements, breaches of migration law obligations, and failure to meet standards of honesty and integrity.
"OMARA takes disciplinary action where it finds that an RMA or former RMA has breached the Code of Conduct for RMAs or is otherwise not fit and proper to provide immigration assistance," the spokesperson told SBS Punjabi.
OMARA said its investigation involved 38 visa applications and concluded that Bajwa had breached obligations under both the former and current Code of Conduct.
It also found he was “not a person of integrity or otherwise not a fit and proper person” to continue providing immigration assistance.
Bajwa responds to SBS Punjabi
Speaking to SBS Punjabi, Bajwa rejected serious wrongdoing and said some issues related to administrative mistakes rather than deliberate misconduct.
The applications linked to my office internet connection should not automatically be considered my work.Jujhar Bajwa
He said some individuals used his office computers or free Wi-Fi to lodge their own protection visa applications independently. The visa category, he said, he generally avoided due to low approval rates.
Bajwa acknowledged eight matters (visitor/ partner visas), where assistance was not declared, but claims those cases as clerical errors.
The case has also renewed attention on Permanent Protection (subclass 866) visa applications, which are available to people who claim they cannot safely return to their home country.
Previously released Department of Home Affairs data (current to 31 March 2023) shows thousands of protection visa applications have been lodged by Indian nationals, but approval rates remain low, with 360 grants compared to more than 7,400 refusals between 2012–13 and March 2023.
Referring to the low success outcomes, Bajwa claims such applications were not the kind of work an established agent would prioritise commercially.
What happens to clients now?
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told SBS Punjabi that when an agent’s registration is cancelled, they can no longer lawfully provide immigration assistance in Australia.
Cancelled agents are also required to notify clients that they cannot continue acting for them.
The Department said OMARA’s regulatory role applies to individual registered migration agents, not the broader businesses they may operate within.
That means businesses may continue operating, where migration advice can be provided by authorised persons such as currently registered migration agents, lawyers or exempt persons.
Bajwa said his immediate priority was helping existing clients transfer files to other registered agents working within the broader business structure.
He claimed more than 20 registered agents were associated with the wider network of his business and were assisting clients through the transition.
Consumers seeking migration help are urged to check the public register of registered migration agents before paying for services.
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